I just wait until I get my Retail price! Then the tire kickers come back kicking themselves because they didn't buy mine! _________________https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

There was an old website, I once belonged to. in the 90s and on - called Red Pepper Racing.com - a Honda CRX and Civic site... was a big-deal Honda site, like the samba.com is 4 VWs - was busy, busy, busy with classifieds, forums, shows and events... I even sponsored a couple Oklahoma cruises. Boy, that was fun...
Then, little by little as time went by, membership dropped off and by 2016, was no more.. Even the club CRX race car lost sponsorship, from dues.. that was sad for me and I finally sold my 1986 CRX - and that's that.

i remember , return members would ask, in the forums, what has happened to this high energy, high traffic site? It was fading, much like thesamba and the old Model A club's are fading... just is bound to happen. is great, we are experiencing it - the decline, instead of like the returning people are surprised... Everything changes_________________5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'91 NSX- wishful thinking

Interesting Zen. I agree items are selling s l o w l y in the classifieds but sales prices of split window buses (most air cooled vw's too) are at or close to all time highs. If you are right, we should see pre 67 bus prices come down soon.

When I started selling parts many years ago, I also had a real day job. I loved the hobby and would sell to cover expenses and make a few dollars for my projects.
Now, it is hard to find a seller that works a supporting job. They depend on this market for their living. Hence the high prices for junk! And, they really don't know better. It is just a living....no love for the hobby.
There is also a problem with just because it is new old stock, it must be worth a ton. Remember, Volkswagen and all of the suppliers made millions of vehicles and with that millions of parts. The internet has shown that not much is rare anymore.
If anybody thinks I am wrong, try pricing an item from a 60+ year old seller. Then try pricing the same item from a 20-30 year old vendor who was not even around when the part was made, much less care, I mean really care about the Marque. I believe this is the answer to your question "what has changed"

People who enter a hobby with the idea of forcing it to become a business deserve all the frustration.

The worst are the clueless who raid junkyards, strip cars of parts, then try to sell common junk on ebay for rare-muscle-car-parts prices. I hate those people. Dumber than that are people I see parting out rare machines, not realizing that the machine is so rare that after they sell a couple parts off of it, they're never going to be able to move the rest - because now it's incomplete, and the market for parts is so small nobody will ever need the rest of it (I'm specifically thinking vintage motorcycles, which seem to attract the worst of the worst of this particularly clueless type of imbecile). They just ruin sh!t thinking rare=money. A lot of these scrap people have, so far as I can tell, more than few screws loose in the parts of the brain that keep our greed in check. It's like a disorder - that can't even consider the machine as a whole, their brain immediately fixates on the idea of destroying it, and then somehow turning that destruction into money.

Joined: July 11, 2005Posts: 1147Location: Still doing it in the back of your VW

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:07 am Post subject: Re: what has changed?

Lately I've been cleaning out the shop...

Throwing away most anything I have multiples of that haven't moved in years.

such as genuine 5 lug vw brake drums that nobody would spend the time or $$ turning..

Cut up and trashed 6 late rusty beetles to free up some space..(2 more next in line)

Picked up a '69 westy with a rough interior that most likely will be gutted and scrapped-not worth the time to clean/refurbish, takes up too much space to hang onto for templates...

Have a 40yd scrap steel container on sight.
End of summer, I'll be loading it with 36hp/40hp engine cores, rear torsion housings, wheels, late bumpers, doors, OG gas tanks, suspension parts..stuff that ppl would rather be buying "new" China repos...

When you aren't selling OG steering boxes and pedal assemblies for a lousy $25, no sense in storing them for year anymore....

When I started selling parts many years ago, I also had a real day job. I loved the hobby and would sell to cover expenses and make a few dollars for my projects.
Now, it is hard to find a seller that works a supporting job. They depend on this market for their living. Hence the high prices for junk! And, they really don't know better. It is just a living....no love for the hobby.
There is also a problem with just because it is new old stock, it must be worth a ton. Remember, Volkswagen and all of the suppliers made millions of vehicles and with that millions of parts. The internet has shown that not much is rare anymore.
If anybody thinks I am wrong, try pricing an item from a 60+ year old seller. Then try pricing the same item from a 20-30 year old vendor who was not even around when the part was made, much less care, I mean really care about the Marque. I believe this is the answer to your question "what has changed"

... thanks for the fodder - i'll chew on that for a while.
I have lowered my samba prices dramatically, yesterday and woke up this morning to 4 emails from folks wanting stuff... still chewing -
I also sell stuff to support my vintage VWs... just bought and bought over the years, cuz I enjoyed all this so much - now in retirement, these parts sales along with other investments help me maintain my vintage VW car collection and hobby... again, thanks for the fodder,_________________5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'91 NSX- wishful thinking

When I started selling parts many years ago, I also had a real day job. I loved the hobby and would sell to cover expenses and make a few dollars for my projects.
Now, it is hard to find a seller that works a supporting job. They depend on this market for their living. Hence the high prices for junk! And, they really don't know better. It is just a living....no love for the hobby.
There is also a problem with just because it is new old stock, it must be worth a ton. Remember, Volkswagen and all of the suppliers made millions of vehicles and with that millions of parts. The internet has shown that not much is rare anymore.
If anybody thinks I am wrong, try pricing an item from a 60+ year old seller. Then try pricing the same item from a 20-30 year old vendor who was not even around when the part was made, much less care, I mean really care about the Marque. I believe this is the answer to your question "what has changed"

... thanks for the fodder - i'll chew on that for a while.
I have lowered my samba prices dramatically, yesterday and woke up this morning to 4 emails from folks wanting stuff... still chewing -
I also sell stuff to support my vintage VWs... just bought and bought over the years, cuz I enjoyed all this so much - now in retirement, these parts sales along with other investments help me maintain my vintage VW car collection and hobby... again, thanks for the fodder,

See I find the opposite. People who were around back then still see them as just cars whereas people my age (I'm 32) look at that stuff like it's gold because we weren't around to experience it first hand. Seeing anything in those blue and white NOS boxes just makes me super happy._________________All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.

Being kind and courteous in your dealings costs nothing but can reap rewards.

This is especially true if you're the buyer, once you start throwing out stupid offers, you have likely alienated the seller. We all like to negotiate, but if you piss the seller off, they're likely to stop dealing with you. Like you, I'd give the next guy a great deal & sweeten the pot just to spite the previous idiot ESPECIALLY if they're still standing there.

I pay my scrotum sucker friend $500 to go in right before me...._________________.ssS!

Being kind and courteous in your dealings costs nothing but can reap rewards.

This is especially true if you're the buyer, once you start throwing out stupid offers, you have likely alienated the seller. We all like to negotiate, but if you piss the seller off, they're likely to stop dealing with you. Like you, I'd give the next guy a great deal & sweeten the pot just to spite the previous idiot ESPECIALLY if they're still standing there.

I pay my scrotum sucker friend $500 to go in right before me....

If you pay the full asking price, IDGAF how much you paid your nut nuzzler._________________Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.

When I started selling parts many years ago, I also had a real day job. I loved the hobby and would sell to cover expenses and make a few dollars for my projects.
Now, it is hard to find a seller that works a supporting job. They depend on this market for their living. Hence the high prices for junk! And, they really don't know better. It is just a living....no love for the hobby.
There is also a problem with just because it is new old stock, it must be worth a ton. Remember, Volkswagen and all of the suppliers made millions of vehicles and with that millions of parts. The internet has shown that not much is rare anymore.
If anybody thinks I am wrong, try pricing an item from a 60+ year old seller. Then try pricing the same item from a 20-30 year old vendor who was not even around when the part was made, much less care, I mean really care about the Marque. I believe this is the answer to your question "what has changed"

... thanks for the fodder - i'll chew on that for a while.
I have lowered my samba prices dramatically, yesterday and woke up this morning to 4 emails from folks wanting stuff... still chewing -
I also sell stuff to support my vintage VWs... just bought and bought over the years, cuz I enjoyed all this so much - now in retirement, these parts sales along with other investments help me maintain my vintage VW car collection and hobby... again, thanks for the fodder,

See I find the opposite. People who were around back then still see them as just cars whereas people my age (I'm 32) look at that stuff like it's gold because we weren't around to experience it first hand. Seeing anything in those blue and white NOS boxes just makes me super happy.

... this is what I remember - when 1 out of every 4 cars on NJ roads was a VW, back in the 60s... I paid $250 for my first 1950 11G split bug and a dash radio was $500 - a month's wages... a split rear bumper was $450... never been cheap for the older VWs... not "just" a car for me... always been something special and i'm twice your age
... I took this pix on my way to art school in NYC in the 60s = VWs were everywhere - no one wanted a lowly bus - BUGs were all the rage.

When I started selling parts many years ago, I also had a real day job. I loved the hobby and would sell to cover expenses and make a few dollars for my projects.
Now, it is hard to find a seller that works a supporting job. They depend on this market for their living. Hence the high prices for junk! And, they really don't know better. It is just a living....no love for the hobby.
There is also a problem with just because it is new old stock, it must be worth a ton. Remember, Volkswagen and all of the suppliers made millions of vehicles and with that millions of parts. The internet has shown that not much is rare anymore.
If anybody thinks I am wrong, try pricing an item from a 60+ year old seller. Then try pricing the same item from a 20-30 year old vendor who was not even around when the part was made, much less care, I mean really care about the Marque. I believe this is the answer to your question "what has changed"

... thanks for the fodder - i'll chew on that for a while.
I have lowered my samba prices dramatically, yesterday and woke up this morning to 4 emails from folks wanting stuff... still chewing -
I also sell stuff to support my vintage VWs... just bought and bought over the years, cuz I enjoyed all this so much - now in retirement, these parts sales along with other investments help me maintain my vintage VW car collection and hobby... again, thanks for the fodder,

See I find the opposite. People who were around back then still see them as just cars whereas people my age (I'm 32) look at that stuff like it's gold because we weren't around to experience it first hand. Seeing anything in those blue and white NOS boxes just makes me super happy.

... this is what I remember - when 1 out of every 4 cars on NJ roads was a VW, back in the 60s... I paid $250 for my first 1950 11G split bug and a dash radio was $500 - a month's wages... a split rear bumper was $450... never been cheap for the older VWs... not "just" a car for me... always been something special and i'm twice your age
... I took this pix on my way to art school in NYC in the 60s = VWs were everywhere - no one wanted a lowly bus - BUGs were all the rage.

Iíve been VW obsessed since I was about two years old. And I have friends my age who are the same way. They arenít commonplace anymore. Weíve dragged them out of the woods, junkyards, backyards, swamps and fought to revive these cars despite that we werenít even alive when they were made. Iím the head organizer of the largest VW show in my state and the majority of those who help me are around my age. I live and breathe these cars.
Not trying to start a pissing contest but I donít see the younger people being the problem, nor do I see older people being the problem. Itís simply some, both young and old, who are just flippers not enthusiasts._________________All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.

Everybody loves the cars that were around when they were in high school. All the model T guys are gone, or going. Of course, there are anomolies in everything, but mainstream, yes._________________CH≥NO≤